Workout of the Day (WOD)

The
majority of people do CrossFit to be better every day. We want to be
healthier, stronger, more mobile, and fitter, than we were the day before.
We aren’t competing at the CrossFit Games, nor have ideas of competing. We
don’t care about having our names on the record boards, we just care about the
PR board and the goals we hit. We CrossFit because we know that it helps us
in our everyday life and doing this will have a dramatic effect upon our life
years from now. I mention this to remind
you why we do CrossFit and so we don’t get too caught up in the competition that
does happen in the gym. The competition
is healthy for pushing yourself to levels you won’t routinely do on your own
but don’t let it get out of hand. This
is a lifetime journey we’re on.

So yes, a lot of what we do at
CrossFit is based around competing (competing against ourselves and competing
against others) but sometimes you just have to embrace “training” so that you
improve. We want you to push yourself to set PRs and/or feel good about
yourself for hanging with the top athletes in the gym on a WOD. Competition is
an important factor at CrossFit Interbay because it helps our athletes achieve
results that would be hard to duplicate in a noncompetitive environment.
However, if every WOD is a competition where time is the only factor, then
you’re missing out on key training adaptations. Slow down every now and then
and develop that strength, improve on a skill, and master proper form. The
better you are at movement, the more access you’ll have to increased fitness.
If you are always focused on competing for the leader board and not slowing
down to learn and improve movements you will hit a ceiling that will be very
hard to break through. Training is important in terms of increasing Range of
Motion (ROM), perfecting skills and improving habits so that when you need to
compete later on, you have more output and more ability.

Improvement doesn’t occur just
because you thrash about with a reckless abandon, form be damned, attitude and
race to the finish every time we start a clock. You have to take ownership of
your workout. Remember, CrossFit is all about you. If you really want to be at the
top of the leader board, hit a new PR or be able to Rx WODs you need to focus
on these things:

Get Stronger – Only deload the bar when appropriate, don’t
take weight off just because you want to go faster. If you can manage the
Rx weight use it but be smart and consult a coach. If your 1RM Deadlift is
315 pounds and the WOD has over 20 reps of 315 DL then you need to scale,
but only scale to 80% of your 1RM weight. You will never get stronger by
lifting light and fast. This
doesn’t mean do the heavier weight if your form breaks down, go with the
bigger weight you can perform while maintaining strong safe form.

Scale Only as necessary – Now this doesn’t mean go into
a workout with the intention of not scaling no matter what, 80% of our
members scale our workouts every day.
However if you can do a workout Rx but it means you’ll go slower,
do it. If you’re not sure, ask a
coach. We have a goal in mind with
the workout sometimes it will be heavier weight, other times it will be
intensity, if you’re not sure work with a coach and we are always there to
help you. Plus, only scale to
complete the movements with the best possible form and range of motion you
can muster. Scaling mid WOD is ok too and highly encouraged. There’s
nothing wrong with performing 3 of the 5 rounds as Rx then dropping
weight, moving to a progression movement in later rounds after fatigue
sets in, or accumulating minimal reps in a max rep WOD because you were
working on a skill.

Show Up and Train – Consistency is the key, even if you
don’t like the WOD or are feeling tired or sore. Tired and sore days are
perfect times to throw the clock out the window to show up and just train.

Finally, when you are having those
days when you feel like Superman or Superwoman and you want to throw down in a
WOD, remember who you are competing against – CrossFit is all about YOU. Go at
your own pace and let the intensity find you. Push your work capacity; you will
never get better by chasing the work capacity of the person next to you. That
just leads to range of motion issues.